Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Consumption Report 2010: Swedes' alcohol consumption is falling

11.01.2011

Despite the fact that the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly's sales are rising and statistics from Statistics Sweden indicate that we drink more and more alcohol, the trend is going in the opposite direction – Swedes' alcohol consumption is falling. This emerges from the Consumption Report 2010 (Konsumtionsrapporten 2010) published by the Centre for Consumer Science at the University of Gothenburg.

Swedes drink less and less alcohol while at the same time the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly's sales are rising and statistics from Statistics Sweden show that alcohol consumption is on the increase. This has been the trend for a long period of time.

Statistics from the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, SoRAD, show that alcohol consumption fell continuously in the period from 2004 to 2009, whereas the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly's sales rose by 22% over the same period. The Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly's sales rose by 10% from 2008 to 2009, whereas statistics from SoRAD show that, over the same period, Swedes' consumption of alcohol fell. How is this possible?

According to Mats Ramstedt, a researcher at SoRAD, it is due to the fact that Swedes consume less and less alcohol from abroad. SoRAD has also included purchases abroad through legal imports, internet orders and smuggled spirits in its statistics.

"In order to get a true picture of how much alcohol Swedish people drink it is important to take the whole alcohol market into consideration", says Mats Ramstedt, docent at the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at Stockholm University.

SoRAD's research takes into account both legal and illegal imports and internet purchases. SoRAD interviews 18,000 people a year on their alcohol consumption, while Statistics Sweden, for example, carries out research involving around 2,000 people to establish Hushållens utgifter (HUT) [Household Expenditure], which includes alcoholic beverages as an area of consumption.

More in the Consumption Report 2010

- The Consumption Report 2010 is based on statistics from 2009 and includes comparisons with 2008 and 1999 to provide a view of developments over time. The Consumption Report 2010 is compiled by John Magnus Roos, PhD.

- The areas of consumption that have seen sharp rises compared to 2008 are: health and hospital services – 6%, alcohol and tobacco – 5%, and purchases by non-resident households in Sweden – 5%.

- The areas of consumption that saw the largest rises between 1999 and 2009 are: communication services – 132 %, purchases by non-resident households in Sweden – 104 %, furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house – 76 %, leisure time and culture – 66%, and clothing and footwear – 53%.

- The area of consumption that has seen the largest fall since 2008 is Swedish households' purchases abroad – 14%.

Researchers from TU Graz and their industry partners have unveiled a world first: the prototype of a robot-controlled, high-speed combined charging system (CCS) for electric vehicles that enables series charging of cars in various parking positions.

Global demand for electric vehicles is forecast to rise sharply: by 2025, the number of new vehicle registrations is expected to reach 25 million per year....

Proteins must be folded correctly to fulfill their molecular functions in cells. Molecular assistants called chaperones help proteins exploit their inbuilt folding potential and reach the correct three-dimensional structure. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) have demonstrated that actin, the most abundant protein in higher developed cells, does not have the inbuilt potential to fold and instead requires special assistance to fold into its active state. The chaperone TRiC uses a previously undescribed mechanism to perform actin folding. The study was recently published in the journal Cell.

Actin is the most abundant protein in highly developed cells and has diverse functions in processes like cell stabilization, cell division and muscle...

Scientists have discovered that the electrical resistance of a copper-oxide compound depends on the magnetic field in a very unusual way -- a finding that could help direct the search for materials that can perfectly conduct electricity at room temperatur

What happens when really powerful magnets--capable of producing magnetic fields nearly two million times stronger than Earth's--are applied to materials that...

The quality of materials often depends on the manufacturing process. In casting and welding, for example, the rate at which melts solidify and the resulting microstructure of the alloy is important. With metallic foams as well, it depends on exactly how the foaming process takes place. To understand these processes fully requires fast sensing capability. The fastest 3D tomographic images to date have now been achieved at the BESSY II X-ray source operated by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.

Dr. Francisco Garcia-Moreno and his team have designed a turntable that rotates ultra-stably about its axis at a constant rotational speed. This really depends...